NKY Hates Heroin race nets $32K

The NKY Hates Heroin race that drew more than 1,000 runners and walkers raised $32,000 to fight heroin in the region.

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Beth Scheper, left, hugs Traci Wolfe before the start of the NKYHatesHeroin.com 5K Walk/Run at Simon Kenton High School earlier this month. Traci lost her daughter Tawni Pina, 21 to a heroin overdose in February 2013. The event netted $32,000.(Photo: The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong)Buy Photo

FORT THOMAS The NKY Hates Heroin race that drew more than 1,000 runners and walkers raised $32,000 to fight heroin in the region.

The family of Nicholas Specht, who at 30 years old died last August in his parents' Fort Thomas home, figured out the proceeds on Thursday evening and decided how to divide it toward local needs.

"It's hard for us to believe, but we netted $32,000 that can now be used to help fight this epidemic," said Noel Stegner, Specht's grandfather, whose pet name for Specht was "Pickle." "We were humbled by the turnout and all the follow-up responses. We know that we have been entrusted to not only continue but make a difference -- and that is heavy."

The organization, comprised of Specht's extended family, will purchase 50 naloxone kits to be distributed by Northern Kentucky People Advocating Recovery, or PAR. Naloxone is a life-saving pharmaceutical that, when sprayed into an opiate overdose victim's nostrils or injected will block receptors and bring the person into immediate withdrawal.

The family also will use some of the funding to continue its financial support of the Healthy Newborns House, a Transitions, Inc., of Northern Kentucky, house in Covington for pregnant women with addiction or new mothers who have infants with addiction.

They will also purchase 5,000 NKYHatesHeroin.com bracelets to give to students in schools when Specht's family members, including Stegner, have presentations.

And, they will print and distribute "How to Use Naloxone" brochures; and "Where Do I Go and What Do I Do Next" brochures for families with addicted children in hospital emergency rooms, doctors offices, and police and fire departments, Stegner said, "So they'll have more help than we did."

Specht overdosed behind a locked bathroom door of his parents' Fort Thomas home. They did not have naloxone, and emergency personnel took him to St. Elizabeth Healthcare Hospital in Fort Thomas, but he could not be saved.

The NKY Hates Heroin race June 7 that started and ended at Simon Kenton High School in Independence, sponsored by the city, drew 1,600 participants and more than 100 volunteers.

The organizers handed out 100 surveys to people who attended to learn what they could about the crowd and how to improve the next race, which is expected to be annual.

Unlike many races that draw in runners who are not involved with the cause, this one drew in many who said their family members have been affected by heroin.

When asked why they participated, 70 percent who responded to the survey said they have a loved one affected, they'd lost a loved one or they were an advocate for addiction recovery.

When asked how many 5Ks they'd participated in, half responded they'd been only to the NKY Hates Heroin race.

When asked whether they'd participate in another race against heroin, everyone responded yes.

"We never thought we'd lose a loved one to heroin," Stegner said. "We never thought we would be able to help raise community awareness like we have, but we did. And we will."